The team arrived in various stages to our accommodation at the Lion Hotel in Borovets: There was an advance party at midday who established base camp and enjoyed checking out the spacious rooms in the quiet, peaceful hotel set in the trees. Some ventured out for a 30 minute run to check the local surroundings, followed by a swim in the hotel pool. Rob and I headed back to Sofia to collect the second group from the airport – we were rather astounded to return to and find the hotel carpark teeming with people and loud music pumping from the building… a boisterous Bulgarian wedding reception in full swing!!

Our final group (Shamus, Callum, Tim) struck difficulties when they discovered the Aussie 7 seater hire vehicle (people mover size) was not going to fit 7 people, 7 large bags/packpacks & 7 carry on bags into the vehicle! The problem was solved by hiring a taxi to travel the 70 kilometres to Borovets with the surplus people & luggage! The wedding party music was still pulsing away when this group arrived at 2:00am.

After a sleep in and breakfast we held our first team meeting – in 2014 we are combining resources with the Australian team to tap into the coaching talent pool of Rob Jessop, Hanny Allston and Toph Naughton.

Our first training session was a middle distance training on the map “Shiroki Dol”. Rob had planned a map walk to familiarise with the terrain then a training at pace. We broke into groups for the walk, with those who had already been on the map (Nick, Matt Doyle, Brodie & Ashley Nankervis) taking the lead. The training was completed just prior to the thunderstorm and rain settling in.

Read other posts in the JWOC2014 OrienteeringNZ Blog